Jeremy Paxman believes that the 2003 Hutton Inquiry, which strongly criticised the BBC for leaking quotations from Dr David Kelly, has increased the role of middle management at the expense of programme-making.

"George Entwistle's departure is a great shame. He has been brought low by cowards and incompetents," he said.

"The real problem here is the BBC's decision, in the wake of the Hutton Inquiry, to play safe by appointing biddable people."

"They then compounded the problem by enforcing a series of cuts on programme budgets, while bloating the management.

"That is how you arrive at the current mess on Newsnight. I very much doubt the problem is unique to that programme."

Defending Entwistle's integrity, Paxman added: "I had hoped that George might stay to sort this out. It is a great pity that a talented man has been sacrificed."

The 62-year-old finally stated that "while time-servers prosper", he would "not be issuing any further statements or doing any interviews".